I think it’s a little weird, but Alaskans like to celebrate the tourist-less winter by heading off to warmer climes: tourist inferno Hawaii. I guess we like to share the joy of having a bunch of holidaying strangers camping out in your recreational backyard and jump at the chance of being those strangers for a […]

My own journey this year is an internal one of patience and healing,* but there’s no reason not to celebrate the fun trips of others. Here are a few trips in my radar that I thought were super cool for one reason or another: 1. My friends Jayme and Paul are riding their bikes from […]

Here’s a great vid Dani put together on her trip to Mt. Edgecumbe. The trip involved taking a boat across the bay, jumping off of it onto an ocean rock, hiking eight miles, taking two short corn snow runs, then sprinting back down the route to meet the boat later that day for the pickup, […]

The Bike Bag Dude Handlebar Roll and Sling is a simple concept – think ‘hotdog-like bag for backcountry mountain biking’ and you’re halfway there. The Roll (the ‘corn dog’) is a tube of tough, waterproof fabric, with Velcro-sealing roll-top closures at each end. To mount the Roll to your bike you wrap the Velcro straps of the Sling (that’s the […]

Ending a day’s trip in not-Anchorage Alaska means hanging out in $7 Fred Meyer camp chairs, enjoying beers in a grimy roadside pullout amidst drooping, melting snow berms, while listening to the pow-pow-pow of a roadside target shooter trying out some new ammo. But in a good way! It’s light until 9:30pm now so when […]

I’ve been out to the Spencer Glacier before, but only in the summer as a member of a trial run for the Alaska Railroad’s Whistle Stop service. It was really fun, but since Alaskans aren’t the number one market for the Alaska Railroad, I haven’t been back since, given the steep price tag for a […]

One of the survival lessons I’ve learned from my many teachers is “understand the source of your stress.” This will help keep you alive when things have gone wrong because it can help you identify a direction to take your situation. When you have an idea of what is bothering you, you can prioritize your […]

Tres Chicas Locas are three (occasionally four, sometimes five) women (every now and then “and men”) who, in 2011, hatched the scheme to hike the length of South America and clinched their plan with the following conversation: Trinity: “Do you want to come hike the length of South America with me?” Shelley: “Yeah!” Sarah: “Me […]

Last week I knocked out the last of the 50 states I had not yet visited. As I mentioned before, I’d never been to Hawaii so when a friend invited me to utilize her guest room (and guest bike), I figured I’d go check it out. Most Alaskans wonder why I’d never been to Hawaii […]

Had a pretty good morning out on a classic Southcentral outing. We have trips for all seasons; meaning that we always have something to look forward to as the seasons change. This one really can only be done for about 2-3 weeks every spring when crust conditions are perfect. We stretched the timing and things […]